Former USU Science Valedictorian Porter Ellis Named 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Utah State University alum Porter Ellis, who was USU’s 2022 College of Science valedictorian, was named a 2024 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. A doctoral student in the Department of Biochemistry at Duke University, Ellis is among some 2,000 students selected from more than 15,000 applicants nationwide.

“I am thrilled to have been selected to receive this fellowship,” says Ellis, a native of Farr West, Utah, who graduated as salutatorian from Fremont High School in 2018 and entered USU on a Presidential Scholarship. “I am extremely grateful for my mentors who supported me in applying for the award, including Dr. Maria Schumacher, my current adviser at Duke, and Dr. Nicholas Dickenson, who was my undergraduate research mentor at Utah State.”

The prestigious fellowship program provides up to three years of support for each awardee’s graduate education, including a $37,000 annual stipend, along with a yearly $16,000 cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees.

Ellis studies nucleoid associated proteins — called NAPs — which support the compaction and organization of genomic DNA in bacteria.

“Emerging evidence highlights the importance of NAPs in fundamental biological processes, including gene regulation, virulence and stress responses,” he says. “I’m working to understand the mechanisms by which many NAPs interact with DNA and function in regulatory processes.”

During his undergrad career, Ellis received a USU Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities (URCO) grant, which supported his research in Dickenson’s lab in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry on the YscN homolog from the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

“Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of bubonic plague in humans, and YScN is essential to its virulence,” Ellis says. “Working on that project was my first exposure to biochemical research and structural biology. Dr. Dickenson is an incredible adviser with an established history of support for undergrad research, and I am very fortunate to have been a beneficiary of his mentorship.”

In addition to research, Ellis honed his teaching skills at Utah State. He was an Undergraduate Teaching Fellow and supplemental instructor for eight courses over three of his undergraduate years. His outstanding efforts led to his designation as the College of Science’s 2021 Undergraduate Teaching Fellow of the Year.

Ellis’s teaching service took on a sense of urgency during the pandemic, as Utah State moved to remote learning in 2020, and continued as Aggies cautiously returned to in-person learning the following year.

“I was a team lead in Utah State’s Supplemental Instructors program, which included training and directing other supplemental instructors,” he says. “During that time, I also represented the SI program as a delegate for a regional student affairs conference, where I learned how to better support USU’s students.”

While teaching a broad range of formidable chemistry and biochemistry course material, Ellis listened to student concerns, encouraged students to follow COVID-19 safety protocols, and developed skills in maintaining a positive classroom environment during a stressful and challenging situation.

“At USU, I discovered my love for teaching and established my commitment to STEM education,” he says. “USU’s Supplemental Instruction and Undergraduate Teaching Fellow programs provided incredible resources and fantastic opportunities to gain experience in front of a classroom. Teaching was among the most fulfilling activities of my undergrad career.”

Ellis has served as a teaching assistant for Duke’s structural biochemistry series, and he’s pursuing Duke’s Graduate Certificate in College Teaching, which is a formal avenue of pedagogical training and STEM outreach.

“My experiences at Utah State, especially in undergrad research, teaching and classroom support activities, inspired me to pursue graduate education and have been immensely valuable to me in my transition to graduate school,” he says.

USU scholars receiving honorable mention in the 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellow search were alum Kenen Goodwin and graduate students Elizabeth Siemion and Neville Taraporevala.

Goodwin, who conducted undergrad research in USU Biology and Ecology Center faculty mentor Zach Gompert’s lab and graduated from Utah State as the Quinney College of Natural Resources Valedictorian in 2020, is pursuing doctoral studies at Oregon State University.

Siemion and Traporevala are master’s students in USU’s Department of Wildland Resources and the USU Ecology Center.

Siemion’s research focuses on understanding the space use of mule deer in California’s Owens Valley, and how it corresponds to mountain lion use and predation intensity. Her faculty mentor is Kezia Manlove.

Taraporevala conducts research with faculty mentor Julie Young and serves as a departmental representative for USU’s Graduate Student Council.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship program helps to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity, according to the NSF website. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.